After many, many months of anticipation and frustration, the release date for Frank Ocean’s long-awaited new studio album has arrived. As The New York Times reports, Boys Don’t Cry will debut this Friday, August 5, exclusively via Apple Music. The NYT cities an anonymous source for their news, revealing that Frank Ocean’s forthcoming LP will also come to us coupled with a new visual and a print-publication named after the album. NYT’s source also disclosed to the outlet that the LP will be an Apple exclusive for two weeks before seeing wide release through all outlets.
Thursday was Soulja Boy’s birthday, which he decided to celebrate with friends, but it unfortunately went south when one of the attendees was robbed at gunpoint and reportedly shot.
The incident occurred Thursday night when Soulja Boy was celebrating his 26th birthday in a recording studio with several friends including Sean Kingston. According to TMZ, one of his friends went outside the studio for a minute where a masked man pulled up in a car and attempted to rob him. A physical struggle between the pair went down, which is when the suspect shot Soulja’s friend in the arm before fleeing the scene in his car. The victim was hospitalized, but thankfully did not endure any life threatening injuries.
Soulja Boy has made no public comment on the event as of press time. Instead, it seems he is spending his Friday in the studio hard at work once again with none other than Kingston and posted a picture to Instagram of the two together. “Birthday vibes studio flow good energy friends family and working on my music all I’m focused on,” he wrote. Meanwhile, Kingston shared a similar sentiment in his own Instagram discussing the power of music. “Music is all about creating a great memory and experience for someone.. In 3-4 min take them in your world and give them best feeling ever. #Tomuchgreatmusicontheway #Blessed #seankingston #positivevibes #Thankful.”
The police do not have a suspect yet.
Judging by his ever-growing list of Drake diss tracks, and his occasional Twitter rant, you’d think Joe Budden’s beef with the Toronto rapper was something strictly motivated by ego. But, according to the Slaughterhouse MC, his shots at Drizzy could also benefit his bank account.
In an interview with ESPN Radio’s Be Honest with Cari Champion, Budden says Drake challenged him to release 25 diss tracks before the Summer Sixteen tour stop at Madison Square Garden next month. And, if he was successful, Drake promised to give him $10,000.
Gucci Mane pretty much confirms what everyone ever suspected about his time behind bars, telling Fader, “Life in prison was hell.” The rapper, who was serving time in a maximum security prison for two counts of firearm possession, says there was no shortage of violence going on in the place. “People were dying every week. [But] I think it helped me to get to the point I’m at now, to drive me out from the drugs. It gave me time to reflect, it made a lot of relationships that were toxic in my life just fall away.”
Prior to prison, Gucci grappled with the side-effects of drug addiction. “When I was on drugs so bad, I talked different. When I was smoking weed, a damn near pound of weed every day, I was congested. When I was drinking lean like crazy every day, I was out my mind,” he said. Fortunately, his time in prison helped him clean up his lifestyle, which has given him a clearer view of how he sees the world. “I was always sophisticated, but it ain’t even sophisticated now—it’s just a sober, a more conscious Gucci. And people probably ain’t used to it. It took a minute for me to get used to it. But they’re gonna have to get used to it because it’s here to stay.”
There was a physical difference in Gucci that was visible the day he got out of prison, but one thing that didn’t change was his prolific musical output as he dropped “First Day Out Tha Feds” less than 24 hours after his release and completed his new album, Everybody Looking, in only six days. His biggest hope is that his music, raw with emotion and details of his past, doesn’t bring people down. Instead, he wants to inspire them to be better. “I never really made music to make people try to feel sad. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I want them to feel powerful, I want them to feel aggressive, I want them to feel invincible. I want to hear the fuckery. I want to hear the shit that people probably think, ‘This ain’t good to be played around kids.'”
Drake brought out a very special guest during his show Wednesday night at Chicago’s United Center—hometown hero Kanye West.
West joined Drizzy for their collaboration “Pop Style.” The Chicago native also took time to address the latest development in his ongoing feud with Taylor Swift. West acknowledged Kim Kardashian’s release of the recording of his phone call with Taylor Swift that shows her approving the lyric about her in his song “Famous.” “All I’ve got to say,” he joked, “is I’m so glad my wife has Snapchat… Now y’all can know the truth & can’t nobody talk shit about Ye no more.” West then launched into an abridged version of “Famous.” Video of the moment is below.
Twitter had plenty to say about Shad Moss (a.k.a. Bow Wow)’s recent comments on this year’s presidential election. When a fan reached out to Bow Wow on Twitter Wednesday for his thoughts on what many have considered one of the most crucial elections in American history, he revealed he’s “not really into politics” and argued that the fact that the country survived a George W. Bush presidency means things couldn’t possibly get much worse.
Nelly’s ‘Country Grammar’ Becomes Just the Eighth Hip-Hop Album to Ever Be Certified Diamond
Sixteen years after its original release, Nelly’s blockbuster debut album Country Grammar has finally been certified diamond by the RIAA. That’s right, the St. Louis, Mo. rapper has officially moved 10 million units of his first album, which first came out back in 2000. He was surprised on stage on Monday night with a plaque commemorating his amazing accomplishment.
Country Grammar is just the eighth album in hip-hop history to achieve a diamond certification. Other diamond-selling albums include Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Tupac’s All Eyez On Me, and The Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill.
Nelly’s debut was an instant smash when it came out in 2000. It spawned major hits like “Country Grammar (Hot Shit),” “Ride Wit Me,” and “E.I.,” all of which made a big impact on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
His Country Grammar plaque wasn’t his only sales achievement of the night, either. Nelly was also honored with a diamond single plaque for his Florida Georgia Line collaboration “Cruise.”
Travi$ Scott announced the release date for his long-awaited new album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight during a concert on Tuesday at the Ford Ampitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk.
“I want everybody to lock in a date right now in their brains,” he said. “August 5th. Birds in the Trap coming soon!” Footage of the announcement can be seen below.
In addition, Scott performed a new song called “Shit to Lose.”
For whatever reason, nothing gets the internet riled up quite like stories about Russell Wilson interacting with Ciara and Future’s 2-year-old son. Whether Baby Future is hugging Wilson at a Seahawks practice or calling him “Papa” on the set of Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Sports Awards, Twitter explodes every time Wilson and the child are pictured together, even though it shouldn’t really be that big of a deal since Wilson and Ciara are married now. The Undefeated actually took a good, hard look at why Wilson’s relationship with Baby Future gets people so worked up on Tuesday.
50 Cent couldn’t resist the opportunity to throw some more shots at Puff Daddy during a recent club appearance in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Footage has surfaced of 50 taking a blatant shot Puffy over his lack of hits in recent times. “Name the last Puffy single,” he challenged the crowd from the DJ booth in the clip. “Do anybody in here know what the last Puffy single was? The DJ don’t know!” Fans shot back with mumbled responses. 50 then told the crowd to “Google that shit.”
It’s clear the G-Unit rapper has no intention of burying the hatchet with Puffy anytime soon because he has been delivering shots throughout his Power press tour. Earlier this month, 50 slammed the Bad Boy mogul’s reputation to make good television while he simultaneously promoted his own show.